1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to compressed rolls of material and, more particularly, to apparatus and methods for radially and uniformly compressing one or more rolls of material.
2) Description of Related Art
The distribution of rolled paper products represents a multibillion dollar industry in the United States with one of the largest segments represented by the toilet or tissue paper segment, as well as the paper towel or kitchen towel market. The process by which both tissue and towels are made can be broken-up into two general steps. The first step involves the creation of the paper base sheet from pulp, while the second step involves converting the base sheet (from a large jumbo roll) to finished smaller roll products. While tissue is designed to be soft and degrade in septic tanks, kitchen towels are designed to be much stronger for use in absorbing spills, for use as placemats, and for cleaning.
Tissue and towels are generally made using multiple layers of base sheet. Tissue tends to have minimal glue between the layers, and generally at selected spots, while the individual plies in paper towels are generally adhered across their entire surface area. Both tissue and paper towels are embossed to create patterns which also help in strengthening the paper. The pulp drying process plays a significant role in the creation of the end product, with through air drying (TAD) producing the softest paper. Papers made using the TAD process are used to form the highest quality tissue and towel papers.
The converting machines used in the second step of the process for making both tissue and towels incorporate unwinders, embossers, rewinders, core handlers, gluers, accumulators, and log saws. Currently, these machines can produce as many as 1000 rolls of toilet paper or 400 rolls of paper towels per minute. Additional steps of wrapping, packing, and case packing are done after the log saw and are generally connected to the converting operation via conveyors.
The sales of rolled paper products occur through retail stores, bulk discount stores, and more industrial “away from home” markets. One of the major difficulties for retailers involves the disposal of boxes and other packaging used to ship the finished rolls. The inherent bulkiness of rolled paper products also requires stores to order on-demand, with the overall cycle from production to sale occurring over several days (e.g., a 45 day period). Bulkiness also limits the ability of manufacturers to set-up production facilities far from end-users, as transportation of the finished goods can be cost-prohibitive. For end-users, the purchase, transport, and storage of tissue and towels also prove difficult because of the large inherent volume.
Furthermore, tissue and towels typically include an inner core for dispensing individual rolls. Because the core of tissue and towels is generally made of paper or other collapsible material, the cores are often difficult to collapse without causing significant distortion and separation from the sheet. This may be due to the manner in which the roll is compressed, the type of core, the amount of adhesive applied to the paper when attached to the core, as well as the type of adhesive used in forming the core. Moreover, an end consumer may have difficulty in reforming the core in a manner that is usable in a standard dispenser system. Other methods for compressing rolls of paper products are incapable of compressing larger numbers of rolls or require a vacuum to package the rolls, both of which typically increase costs.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide apparatus and methods for uniformly compressing and packaging rolls of material in a compressed form. In addition, it would be advantageous to provide apparatus and methods that are economical and are capable of efficiently compressing and packaging one or more rolls of material efficiently. Furthermore, it would be advantageous to provide apparatus and methods that effectively compress the rolls of material in an aesthetically pleasing manner.